My Father Has It
by taramidala
Summary: **Extremely spoiler/speculation heavy for "The Force Awakens." Enter at your own risk.** Rey has been tasked to find Luke Skywalker. This is their first conversation.


"My Father Has It"

 **Rating:** G  
 **Time Frame:** During _**The Force Awakens**_  
 **Disclaimer:** All belongs to Lucasfilm Ltd. and the Haus of Mouse.  
 **Note:** Special thanks as always to _**ginchy**_ for the once-over and general cheerleading!  
 **Note #2:** PLEASE DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WISH TO READ SPECULATION ON VARIOUS SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 7.

Rey pulled at the vine-covered, mossy rocks that blocked her way. The thick green slime slid between her fingers with each pull. Glancing down at the silver cylinder on her belt, she sighed. That _could_ work, and there wasn't much time. She shook her head and tugged harder. No. She wasn't ready.

As of their own volition, the heavy stones began to move, offering a small passageway for her to slip through. She could hear the crashing waves echoing inside the chamber, as though the tunnel led straight to the cliff's edge and the water below.

She paused, and thought of the men she'd left behind. Finn, and Dameron, had stayed with the ship, but she could sense their minds buzzing in the back of hers. Warm. She hoped they'd still be there when she returned.

If she returned.

"Enough," she muttered, and stepped into the passage.

The change from light to darkness wasn't unexpected, but hit her eyes like a blaster going off too close to the face. Instinctively, she reached out into the void, but felt nothing. Cold. The wave echoes were louder now, drowning out the sound of her heartbeat that rang in her ears. Finally, she found a wall.

Her hand trailed along the cold, wet stone as she ventured further into the dark. New sounds emerged, little flicks and hisses of unseen creatures that brushed her skin and made it crawl. The lack of light started to play tricks on her mind; it now looked as though there were small portals in the distance that gave view to the sea below. She continued walking.

There were no portals, and yet the water was as loud as ever. She'd never heard (or seen) so much water in her life. Jakku was a barren wasteland, and Yavin IV, while lush and green, had nothing on this place.

But why choose it as a place of exile?

Flashes of fire and exploding stone flooded her mind, images from the vision Maz Kanata had channeled for her. The savage rampage that had killed hundreds and left them burning. The battle for which they'd been gravely unprepared and overwhelmed and had left many lost and alone. Rey raised her hands to fight the onslaught, but they were useless protection. She couldn't stop reliving the screams of all the people they'd lost. Friends. Families. Her mother. Her sister and brother.

She was one of the only ones left, and now she was here, kneeling in a damp puddle in a black cave filled with ghosts and darkness. A thick fog filled her mind, clouding all clarity. She sought Finn and Poe again and felt nothing.

"What do you want with me?" she whispered.

No reply came. Not that she expected one.

"Enough," she hissed, pushing herself to her feet. She brushed her slime-covered hands on the seat of her trousers and pressed on.

The ghostly voices ebbed and flowed through the tunnel, their sighs and strains bouncing off the walls. She could no longer pinpoint them, nor could she stop them, but she was no longer afraid. The creeping darkness in her heart dissipated even as it held fast around her, as though she were a beacon cutting through it.

She thought then of her mission here - find, and retrieve - and wondered again why the Queen had chosen her. She gave the lightsaber to Finn,and Dameron was her errand boy, so why couldn't they have done it?

 _"I think you know,"_ she had said when Rey asked her that very question.

Reaching a vee in the cave, Rey paused. She had no idea how long she'd been down there, but surely the target wasn't much further. Fighting to hear herself over those waves and voices, she listened for the tiny guiding voice that had become so vocal lately. When it whispered its choice, she followed.

Light trickled in at the corners of her eyes as she climbed down a narrow set of steps, until it grew so bright she tumbled to the bottom. The voices roared once more as she lay on the ground, screaming and cackling their fury against her prone form. Rey opened her mouth to cry out when -

"Enough!" The boom echoed in the chamber with enough force to knock Rey to her back. Then...silence. The ghosts, the waves, were just...gone.

She had never heard anything more beautiful in her life.

Breathing out the final threads of fear, she rose to her feet. Her eyes flicked around the chamber, lit with a faint golden light. There were dozens of shipping trunks scattered about. Several crudely-cut windows. A small sleeping pallet on the floor. An Old Republic era Astromech droid next to it. And before her, the stooped figure of an old man draped in tattered black robes.

His face showed no displeasure. His eyes remained closed, and a low hum rumbled from his time-worn throat. "So my sister sends a child to do her dirty work?" he asked.

"I bring a message from Queen Leia Organa of the Resistance. Are you the one called Skywalker?"

The man chuckled, a wispy, hissy sound that cut the air and grated against her ears. "That depends on who's asking," he said. "Who are you?"

She hesitated a moment before replying. "I am Rey," she said.

There was a soft grunt as he shifted to sit on the closest rock. His movements were slow, but careful and steady, and wouldn't betray his agility to an ordinary observer.

Too many years in the Jakku scrapyards, however, made her far from ordinary. He was merely playing the part of an elder; his skills and strength remained undiminished.

His voice came softly. "Why are you here?" he asked.

Rey rolled her eyes. Hadn't he been listening? "I told you. I bring a message from –"

"A droid could have sent a message. Give me the _real_ reason, child."

She shivered a bit to know how well he'd read her, and recoiled to the far side of the chamber. Her hand brushed the lightsaber and she said, "I, and another who's waiting for me topside – Finn – we have the Force. Will you teach us?"

"No."

"Will you come with me to the Queen? There is a very grave threat."

The derisive snort that escaped him echoed loudly. "There always is."

"The Sith have returned. The Queen believes their leader to be her son," Rey said.

"The Sith returned fifteen years ago." A white-hot flash of his pain rushed over her, as if his emotions were the flames from that long ago inferno. "There is nothing I can do."

"Can't, or won't?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Leia has never understood what I am doing here, and I can't make her. She knows this. I'm sorry she sent you on a fool's errand."

"What is it you're doing anyway?"

The man rose and spread his arms wide, indicating the trunks around them. "These contain Sith artifacts. Ren has been looking for them. When he comes, I'll be ready."

So _that_ was the source of the darkness, she thought. That and this man's emotions. And yet he himself was not dark. But why wouldn't he face her? He looked not at her. He looked everywhere but her. "You can't do it all on your own," she said, pushing away from the wall. "Train us, and we'll help you."

"This is no place for children."

"And I am not a child! Or don't you realize that?" she screamed, marching into his space. This nonsense conversation had finally broken her. She'd rejected the truth when Kanata first proposed it through her vision; she'd denied it when the Queen had insisted she come here. Now, it seemed it was all for naught anyway, and all her rage, exhaustion, and resentment spilled forth. "You don't even remember, do you?"

Her words faded out on her cry, and as she stifled a sob it seemed that he, too, had broken. "Remember the Sith wiping out all I had worked to rebuild?" he spat as he began to pace. His dark robes swirled around him with every step. "Set fire to my family's home and legacy as if it were dry brush on the plains? Remember my wife's face as she stared down an army with our children strapped to her back? How dare you ask if I remember, girl! I remember it all."

He stopped directly in front of her and opened his eyes to meet hers for the first time. And she knew. Seeing those eyes that had haunted her most secret dreams, she knew as surely as anything.

"And me? Has your heart forgotten me?" she asked softly. "The Force is strong in my family. My aunt has it. My mother, my sister, and my brother had it. I have that power, too, and for the first five years of my life I knew how to use it."

A hand reached out to brush a stray strand from her face, still as tan and warm as she remembered. She leaned into his touch as his fingertips met her skin, and she grasped the hood of his cloak and tugged. He was definitely older, more weathered, and gray-haired, but his gentle face still looked the same. In the air she could hear his silent thought - _I thought you were dead_ \- which she answered with a smile. "I survived, _Ahda_ ," she whispered, using her babyname for him from a lifetime ago. "And I need you. My name is Kireya Skywalker. I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi from my father."


End file.
